Operation: CORSAIR
*Spartan-II Indigo Team |forces2=Privateer Vessel Heikekatohuia |casual1=N/A |casual2=N/A }} The fall of the Covenant saw the rise of the Kig-Yar Privateer Alliance - finally free from the Prophet's decrees that they be forbidden to use slipspace-capable ships, the sudden and dramatic appearance of Kig-yar piracy as a major threat to the shipping of all factions caused significant alarm amongst FLEETCOM. Already fighting wars against the Blood Covenant and waging a cold war of intelligence against the New Covenant, the UNSC was unwilling to let this threat continue, especially against its poorly defended reclaimed colonies. Operation: CORSAIR was intended as the beginning of an infiltration operation by the UNSC, locating a major Kig-yar privateer base, hoping that its destruction by a UNSC battlegroup, including a number of the new Arsenal Ships fielded by Project EXCALIBUR, would unsettle the balance of power in the Privateer Alliance, and send a message to the Kig-yar that preying on human colonies would not be tolerated. To this end, a trap was set in orbit over Megiddo, a site of significant Kig-yar raids - a "crippled" freighter was attached with a slipspace beacon, technology borrowed from the Sangheili Armed Forces. The Operation commanders expected that the Kig-yar, seeing only a salvage opportunity, would tow the freighter back to their base of operations through slipspace - a special warfare team would then infiltrate their base and place a the beacon aboard and send the UNSC a signal pinpointing its location, allowing the battlegroup to move in and wipe the base out. Spartan-II Indigo Team, already in the system to assassinate a secessionist cult leader, were redeployed to place the beacon aboard the requisitioned freighter Messor in the cargo hold. An archer missile fired by the Prowler One-Eyed Wanderer crippled its thruster and slipspace pod, leaving it immobile, a perfect target for the Kig-Yar - and, as predicted, a Kig-yar ship soon arrived to investigate. Unfortunately, rather than tow the ship through slipspace immediately, the ship deployed boarding craft to investigate. Faced with the prospect of fighting in a zero-gravity environment against a company of Kig-yar mercenaries, Indigo Team instead performed an EVA infiltration - rather than wait to be towed to the base, they boarded the Kig-yar ship itself from there. Finding little of worth, and suspicious of the damage inflicted by a human weapon, the Kig-yar destroyed the freighter with their pulse laser weapons and jumped back to their base. A near failure, Indigo Team's quick actions would have dramatic consequences. Rather than a mere Kig-Yar Privateer Alliance base, the ship had jumped to a major Kig-yar colony in orbit over a gas giant in the same system as Expansive Judgement, the capital world of the Blood Covenant - while Expansive Judgement itself was a high-priority target itself, it was also defended by hundreds of warships, making a frontal assault on it impractical and potentially fatal. Instead, Operation: CORSAIR revealed that there was a vital weak point able to be exploited - the Gargarensis gas refinery near the Kig-yar colonies was a vital resource, allowing the Blood Covenant to produce weapons- and fuel-grade plasma, maintaining their fleet. Without it, it would only be a matter of time before the Blood Covenant became inoperational, leaving the planet vulnerable. Though Indigo Team would be forced to stay on the colony until a retrieval force could be deployed, it would lead to Operation: LAMENTATION, the most important battle in the UNSC and Sangheili's campaign against the Blood Covenant. Quotes *"After Expansive Judgement, the Jackals were hesitant about attacking human colonies...for a few months. And after that, they were a lot more careful about searching the cargo holds for beacons and probes - that particular trick didn't work again, but it was well worth the payoff." *"It's gotta take guts to launch yourself through space at an alien ship. hell, even with a set of powered armour, I'd rather have taken the Jackals one-on-one." *"Megiddo suffered a lot of pirate attacks before Operation Corsair, mostly because it was the test ground for all our new terraforming equipment - and thus needed a lot of upkeep. Afterwards, the terraforming went unimpeded - the Jackals never returned to megiddo." *"Had it been a Sangheili colony, we would have merely attached a small battlegroup in the area to respond to further attacks. While the human method may seem more underhanded, there is no doubt that the results it produced have been...effective."